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ABC of Safety in the Biological Sciences
INTRODUCTION
Medical laboratories are
potentially amongst the most hazardous of all workplaces.
Occupational health, welfare and safety legislation in many
countries1-6 places the onus of responsibility for safety
on local managers and department heads, but this does not give the
individual worker license for ignorance and unsafe laboratory
practice. Legislation also specifies that individual workers are
responsible for not endangering the safety of their co-workers.
Legislation invariably
requires the appointment of a health and safety officer to a
designated area of responsibility. Duties and responsibilities
include the requirement to identify hazards and hazardous operations
within the workplace and make recommendations for improvements.3,7,8
Once identified, the removal of the hazard becomes the
responsibility of a line manager.7 Some legislation
provides for pecuniary penalties and even imprisonment for those
found negligent of their defined responsibilities.1
Duties for a safety officer include:
-
identification of local hazards
-
maintenance of safe practices in the defined area of responsibility
-
production of a safety manual
-
lectures to designated workgroups on aspects of safety including first aid
-
development of a safety training programme including first aid
-
safety inspections of the workplace
-
correlation of incident reports
If there is any doubt about any aspect of safety in your working environment - ask. If the answer is unsatisfactory local government agencies and/or unions will often have the correct answer and will give support to remedy an unsafe situation.
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